Detailed Summary of Case of Rev. Justo José Ilarraz,
Drawn from Media Coverage and Public Reports

Summary

Sources

On 9/13/2012, Analisis magazine published a report by investigative journalist Daniel Enz revealing Ilarraz’s alleged rape and sexual abuse of at least 50 boys, ages 12-14, from 1984 to 1992. The boys, from devout rural families, attended the minor seminary in the Paraná archdiocese, where Ilarraz was prefect and spiritual director. Each year, he would choose ten boys to molest and reward them with special privileges. In 1992, two victims reported their abuse to Paraná archbishop Estanislao Esteban Karlic (archbishop 1986-2003; president of Argentine bishops' conference 1996-2002). The boys were escorted by the prefect of the major seminary, Juan Alberto Puiggari, now Paraná archbishop. After the victims’ report, Karlic sent Ilarraz to Rome, where he stayed at least a year, finishing his degree in Missiology and writing a paper: Children: New Missionaries for New Times. (Ilarraz had lived with Karlic and been his private driver in the early 1980s.)

In July 1995, Karlic convened an official diocesan inquiry, swearing the victims to secrecy. On 12/18/1996, the Paraná church tribunal issued a decree banning Ilarraz from Paraná and sending him on a one-month spiritual retreat. The archdiocese did not report him to civil authorities or seek to remove him from the priesthood, although some accounts say that Karlic informed the Vatican in July 1995.

In the mid-1990s, Ilarraz returned to Argentina and moved to the Tucuman province. At some point – perhaps 1998-1999 -- he lived in Buenos Aires, where Jorge Bergoglio was vicar general (1993-1998), co-adjutor archbishop (6/3/1997) and archbishop (2/28/1998-3/14/2013). Reportedly, however, Ilarraz did not work in Buenos Aires as a priest.

In 2000, he was assigned to be pastor in a parish in Monteros, Tucuman province (diocese of Concepcion). In 2004, he was excardinated formally from Paraná by then-archbishop Mario Maulión (archbishop 2003-2010) and incardinated to the Concepcion diocese.

On 9/7/2012, knowing the publication of Enz’s piece was imminent, Ilarraz abruptly left his parish in Monteros. On 9/14/2012, the day after the Enz report appeared, civil authorities announced a criminal investigation.

Juan Puiggari, Archbishop of Paraná, issued a statement on 9/14/2012 expressing his “deep shame and immense sorrow” for Ilarraz’s offenses but defending the archdiocese's handling of the case, citing “privacy rights,” “due process,” and “our knowledge of existing laws.” Archbishop Bergoglio of Buenos Aires signed on to Puiggari’s statement a few days later: this statement was cited after Bergoglio became pope as evidence of his abhorrence of clergy sex abuse but it appears that he simply attached his name to Puiggari’s statement and did not release a statement of his own.

After the criminal case was opened in September 2012, priests with ties to Karlic or Puiggari reportedly phoned victims to develop a rapport and persuade them not to testify. In the end, seven victims agreed to testify in court.

On 3/13/2013, the day Bergoglio was elected pope, the Paraná criminal appeals court ruled that Cardinal Karlic would not be indicted (a plaintiff attorney had proposed that he be charged with “aggravated concealment”).

On 4/26/2013, Paraná magistrate Alejandro Grippo rejected the defense’s motion to dismiss the case based on “prescription” (statute of limitations). Grippo described Ilarraz’s crimes as serious human rights violations, citing the American Convention on Human Rights doctrine on child protection and Argentina’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The defense appealed to Paraná’s criminal appeals court, which on 8/5/2013 overturned Grippo’s decision and dismissed the case against Ilarraz. The appellate judges ruled that the 20-year period for prosecuting the crimes had lapsed. They rejected the prosecutors’ arguments that Ilarraz’s crimes constituted violations that could be prosecuted under international human rights law.

The lawyer for Cardinal Karlic applauded the decision and defended the prelate’s concealment of the crimes, saying that Ilarraz had committed “a crime of private action. Parents should have made the complaint.”

On 8/8/2013, the prosecutor, Entre Rios Attorney General Jorge Garcia, announced he would appeal the provincial court’s decision.

In late August 2013, more than 20 years after first hearing of Ilarraz's assaults of boys, the Argentine hierarchy appeared to take steps toward removing Ilarraz from the priesthood. An ecclesiastical tribunal was convened, and Puiggari reportedly sent Ilarraz's file to Pope Francis.

In September 2013, it was confirmed that the Vatican ordered an ecclesiastical court in Argentina to investigate.

In April 2015, the Superior Court of Justice of Entre Ríos, in a 2-1 decision, ruled against prescription and ordered that Ilarraz continue to be investigated. About three months later, he was criminally charged with aggravated corruption of minors, unanimously upheld in April 2016 by an appeals court.

Two weeks later, after more than 2.5 years of no updates on its investigation of Ilarraz, the church announced that it would move forward with witness testimonies the following month. The canonical case remains unresolved.

In the fall of 2016, it was confirmed that the criminal case would go to trial. In July 2017, the Criminal Court of Entre Ríos announced that the trial would start on November 13.